The bench press is one of the most popular free weight exercises. While there are flat bench, incline bench, and decline bench versions, the flat bench version is the one most commonly practiced. Generally, to perform a flat bench press, a person lies in a supine position on a bench that is parallel to the ground, grasps a barbell that is positioned on a rack above the person's head, lifts the barbell to a position that is over the person's chest with the person's arms essentially fully extended, lowers the barbell until it touches the person's chest, and then lifts the barbell to a fully extended position. At the point in this motion when the barbell touches the chest, it is generally the case that at least a portion of the upper arms of the person will break the horizontal plane formed by the back of the user, and indeed will travel below the surface of the bench.
The bench press helps develop a person's pectoral muscles and, to some extent, the front deltoid and triceps muscles. However, as the upper arms break the horizontal plane defined by the back of the user, the head of the humerus moves forward within the glenoid cavity. This creates a pull against the posterior deltoid, infraspinatus and teres minor muscles, which are relatively weaker and smaller than the pectoral muscles. Where too much pull is created, the humeral head will push with sufficient force to stretch out the relatively weak anterior capsule and impinge the supraspinatus against the coracoacromial ligament and the acromion. Over time, these shoulder muscles and ligaments can become strained or torn.
Thus, a need existed for a device and method for allowing a person to perform a free weight, bench-press-type exercise with an ordinary barbell; to realize at least a substantial portion of the benefit to the pectoral muscles from bench press exercises; and to protect to a significant degree the shoulder muscles, including the deltoid and subscapuralis.